Book banning = Book burning in the estimation of certain GOPers

From The Nashville Tennessean -

'Burn them': GOP lawmaker sparks ire over Tennessee school library book bill

A last-minute amendment to give a politically appointed textbook commission final approval over books in Tennessee school libraries sparked a Capitol protest and heated debate in the General Assembly on Wednesday. 

The legislation, HB 2666, passed the Senate earlier this month as a relatively straightforward bill to add members to the state's textbook commission and task the commission with providing guidance for schools when reviewing materials to ensure they are "appropriate for the age and maturity levels" of students. 

[snip]

Legislative leadership has repeatedly argued this session they are not supporting broad book bans or censorship, instead offering increased parental oversight for "age appropriate" materials in school libraries.

[snip]

But in the House debate on Wednesday, Sexton suggested he would take things a step further. 

"I would burn them," Sexton said of books he considers inappropriate. 

Republican lawmaker says he would 'burn' books he considers inappropriate

To some, the amendment felt like a last-minute power grab as the legislature intends to wrap its session this week. Republican leadership this year have supported multiple measures to increase oversight over school libraries amid repeated lobbying from conservative groups on the issue.

One doesn't have to look too far to something similar here in AZ: HB2439 is on the governor's desk.

The sponsors claim the AZ bill is all about "parental rights", too.

One summary of Ray Bradbury's novel "Fahrenheit 451"  describes it a 'dystopian' -

However, based on the SparkNotes summary, I would characterize it as "GOP utopia".(emphasis added by me)

Guy Montag is a fireman who burns books in a futuristic American city. In Montag’s world, firemen start fires rather than putting them out. The people in this society do not read books, enjoy nature, spend time by themselves, think independently, or have meaningful conversations. Instead, they drive very fast, watch excessive amounts of television on wall-size sets, and listen to the radio on “Seashell Radio” sets attached to their ears

New York judge gets to where the majority of us are - he holds Cheeto in contempt

From CNN -

Judge holds former President Trump in civil contempt for failing to comply with document subpoenas from New York attorney general

A New York judge is holding Donald Trump in civil contempt after the state's attorney general's office said he did not comply with a subpoena for documents as part of its investigation into the former President's company.

Judge Arthur Engoron said Trump failed to abide by his order to comply with the subpoena, and that his attorneys failed to show how a search of materials held by Trump was conducted. Engoron said Trump would be fined $10,000 a day until he complies.

Statewide candidate reports are in

Only candidates who have submitted signatures to be on the ballot appear here.

The numbers below are based on candidate-reported numbers only from their Q1 reports).

All candidates for Corporation Commission are running as Clean Elections candidates, though only Lauren Kuby has received CE funding so far (not to worry Republicans - I'm sure that Pinnacle West/APS will fall back on their old habits and spend lots of money to get the R candidates elected).

Two candidates for Superintendent of Public Instruction, incumbent Democrat Kathy Hoffman and Republican Shiry Sapir,  are running as CE candidates and have received funding.

Republican Michelle Udall has yet to file a Q1 report.

Many candidates have loans to themselves; while not all such candidates are Republicans, the vast majority are, and *all* candidates who have loaned their campaigns more than $400K are.

Well, Brnovich has the "hypocrite" part of being an R down pat...

...of course, being a good hypocrite may make him a lousy AZAG.

From Ben Giles of the Associated Press, published at KJZZ (emphasis added by me) -

Brnovich sues Hobbs in dispute over election procedures

Republican Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich is joining with Republican Party officials to sue Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs in an escalation of a dispute over the election procedures manual she is required to complete.

The two have been at odds for months over the manual that tells county officials how to run elections, and have tangled in other fights as well. Brnovich threatened to investigate Hobbs for temporarily taking down an online signature collection system used by candidates in order to update it with new congressional and legislative district maps approved early this year.

[snip]

Hobbs submitted the manual as required on Oct. 1, but Brnovich refused to approve it. That left the one she completed two years before as the guidelines for the 2020 elections. A contract lawyer Brnovich hired to review the manual sent her a letter in early December where he said large parts of it did not meet legal requirements.

In a Dec. 17 response, Hobbs told Brnovich much of the rejected material had been approved just two years earlier by him and Gov. Doug Ducey.

[snip]

Brnovich’s decision to sue Hobbs stands in contrast to his handling of the previous secretary of state, Republican Michele Reagan, who never completed an election procedures manual during her four years in office — during one election cycle, she didn’t even bother to write one.

At the time, Brnovich rejected a complaint by attorney Tom Ryan seeking the attorney general’s prosecution of Reagan.

You just know that the leadership of the NRA is weeping with pride over this

Of course, the rest of us are just weeping.

From NPR -

Firearms overtook auto accidents as the leading cause of death in children

For decades, auto accidents have been the leading cause of death among children, but in 2020 guns were the No. 1 cause, researchers say.

Overall firearm-related deaths increased 13.5% between 2019 and 2020, but such fatalities for those 1 to 19 years old jumped nearly 30%, according to a research letter in New England Journal of Medicine.

Legislative schedule - week starting 4/24/2022

Another week of "silly season" at the legislature.

Last week, the Republicans in the legislature tried to pass a "skinny" budget (last year's budget adjusted for inflation).

It failed.

Blog for Arizona coverage here and here.

My guess (and it's only that) is that the budget impasse will be resolved in the next couple of weeks, for two reasons:

1. Phoenix is scheduled to hit 100 degrees this week, and other than the ones who live here, no legislator wants to be in Phoenix when the heat sets in.

From Weather Underground -

2. It's an election year, and almost all of them would rather be out campaigning.

At 2 p.m. on Tuesday 4/26, Senate Transportation and Technology in SHR109, on Wednesday 4/27 at 9 a.m. in SHR1, Senate Health and Human Services; at 9:30 a.m. in SHR1, Senate Communications, and at 1 p.m. in SHR1, Senate Government all meet to consider executive nominations.

Note: HHR refers to a hearing room in the House building; SHR refers to one in the Senate building.

Note2: Generally, I'll only specify bills that look to propagate propaganda.  Other bills may be more conventionally bad (think: corrupt or other misuses of public monies and/or authority.  My recommendation is that if an agenda covers an area of interest to you, read the entire agenda.

Note3: Each chamber's respective Rules Committee meets on Monday, the House's in HHR4 at 1 p.m. and the Senate's in Senate Caucus Room 1, also at 1 p.m.  Both committees serve as rubber stamps for bills leadership wants to be advanced and gatekeepers for measures that leadership wants stopped.

Note4: Meeting start times may be listed, but are flexible.  Before journeying to the Capitol or viewing the meeting online, verify the start time.

Note5: Watch for strikers, or strike everything amendments.  Those involve inserting language into the entirety of a bill.  Those can be introduced at any time and can make a previously harmless bill into a very bad one. 

The Cheeto laundry seems up to speed

Though it isn't clothes the are being cleaned...

When doing my research for the committee update post today, I came across one interesting item on the IRS' website -

Details -

Why do I believe it's a laundry of some sort?

Well,

1. I can't find any evidence that the PAC has given *anything* to any candidate (caveat: I didn't check the filings of every R candidate, so something may have slipped under my radar.  Also, it is still early in primary season, so the PAC may yet do so).

2.  With one exception (to be covered in point 3), I can't find evidence f the PAC's existence on either the websites of the Federal Election Commission or the Arizona Secretary of State.

3. The one exception being on the website of the AZSOS -

The one exception that I can find shows that even though "Arizona" is in the name, they've terminated their Arizona committee.

4. Their main address is a P.O. box in Virginia.  For that matter, their Arizona address is a mail drop, too.  Not illegal, but not credibility-enhancing, either.

5. They made sure to give Cheeto a cut of their take.  From Schedule B of the IRS filing -

The chairman, Matt Palumbo, works for Dan Bongino.  From his LinkedIn page -

And Bongino is a thoroughgoing Trumpkin.

Federal Committee update

From the website of the Federal Election Commission -

Republican Dowling, a disgraced former Maricopa County Schools superintendent is running for the Congressional seat in CD9 against Paul Gosar.  No Democrat has submitted nominating signatures for the race.

I have previously written about Dowling's husband, Dennis, and his quest for a school board seat in spite of his primary qualification being his obtaining an advanced degree from a degree mill.

You just know that Cheeto will postulate that former presidents are above the law

From NPR -

Ex-Honduran President Hernández is extradited to the U.S. on drug charges

A disgraced former Honduran president was extradited to the U.S. on Thursday to face drug and arms charges.

A handcuffed Juan Orlando Hernández, the once powerful former president, boarded an airplane with agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to face legal proceedings in New York City.

Hernandez in 2019, from BusinessInsider -

Hernandez today, from the NPR story linked above -

The whole "my, how the mighty have fallen" motif may hit a little close to home for Cheeto.

From The Press and Journal (UK), dated January 19, 2022 -

Fraud inquiry probes value of Trump’s Aberdeenshire golf resort

A US prosecutor probing former President Donald Trump’s business practices is focusing on allegedly “fraudulent” valuations of his luxury golf resort in Aberdeenshire.

The inquiry, led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, alleges the Trump Organisation used the “misleading” asset valuations to obtain economic benefits including loans, insurance coverage, and tax deductions.

Maybe Alex Jones thinks that karma is a hoax, too

From CBS -

Alex Jones' Infowars files for bankruptcy in wake of defamation suits over his assertions that the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax

Far-right website Infowars and two other companies owned by radio host Alex Jones have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in light of several defamation lawsuits. The filings were made in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Chapter 11 bankruptcy procedures put a hold on pending civil litigation while letting a business keep running as it prepares a turnaround plan.

Court documents seen by CBS News show that the companies that filed were Infowars,  IWHealth aka Infowars Health, and Prison Planet TV.

My guess is that the only "hoax" involved in his bankruptcy filing is the filing itself.

State Committee update

From the website of the Arizona Secretary of State -

Paperman is a current member of the governing board of the Deer Valley Unified School District and is *not* listed as one of the candidates who has submitted signatures to appear on the ballot.

Her website indicates that she's a Republican.

AZ Attorney General Mark Brnovich would rather be seen as the R nominee for Senate than be seen as a decent human being

From Vaughan Jones at KJZZ -

Arizona AG wants to stop death-row prisoner’s mental fitness test

Prosecutors have asked the Arizona Supreme Court to call off a mental-fitness hearing for death-row prisoner Clarence Dixon. The examination may delay the state’s first execution since 2014.

In a filing Wednesday, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office told the court the mental competency hearing scheduled for May 3 is likely to delay his May 11 execution date.

From Jill Ryan at KJZZ, original story by Howard Fischer at Capitol Media Services (emphasis added by me) -

Arizona Attorney General Brnovich makes misleading claims on Steve Bannon's podcast

Arizona’s Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who is also in the middle of a political campaign for the U.S. Senate, has made seemingly misleading claims about the Maricopa County’s 2020 election process. 

On former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s podcast, Brnovich talked about his interim report on the election and also claimed that the county used artificial intelligence systems to verify ballot signatures. 

Steve Bannon?  What's next?  Burning a cross in front the AG's office?

And sacrificing the life of a mentally ill person on the altar of his political ambitions?

Does Brnovich even look at the man he sees in the mirror, much less like who he sees there?

Federal Committee update

From the website of the Federal Election Commission -

Democrat Anderson is running the CD6 seat in Congress and has submitted signatures to be on the ballot.

From the website of the Arizona Secretary of State - 

At this point in primary season, name recognition rules

While this poll covers only the R statewide primaries, I'm going to presume that D primaries are in the same name rec boat.

To be fair, that may be the only area where Democratic primary voters are similar the Republican primary voters.

KTAR has a story up on this poll.

Polling from OH Predictive Insights.

From OH -

AZ GOP Gov Race: Lake Leads, Robson Climbing, Salmon Stalls

With Arizona’s primary election roughly three months away and many competitive GOP primary races showing crowded fields, OH Predictive Insights (OHPI) conducted its first statewide Likely GOP Primary Voter Poll of the current election cycle. The recent survey among Arizona likely voters revealed a competitive race for Governor and U.S. Senate, however, aside from the State Treasurer’s race, the remaining statewide offices are currently a jump ball.   

This AZPOP was conducted April 4th, 2022 – April 5th, 2022 and surveyed 500 Arizona qualified as likely GOP primary voters, giving the survey a margin of error of +/- 4.4%.

One thing that isn't surprising is that among Republican primary voters, fear of The Other is the most important issue.

Among candidates, though, the winner right now is "Unsure".

I expect that as the calendar gets closer to August, the gloves will come off.  For example, Tom Horne is leading the R race for Superintendent of Public Instruction, so it probably won't be long before one of his competitors brings up his scandals.

Florida embraces propaganda and chooses ignorance for its kids

From KPMG (Orlando) -

Florida education officials reject 54 math textbooks for ‘attempts to indoctrinate students’

Dozens of math textbooks were rejected by the Florida Department of Education after officials said their publishers were attempting to indoctrinate students.

According to an FDOE news release Friday, the department did not initially include 54 of the 132 submitted textbooks on the state’s adopted list.

[snip]

Math books?  Really?

Unless DeSantis and his watercarriers are trying to protect FL's students from the perils of algebra (actually, they look to be sacrificing their children and their education on the altar of DeSantis' presidential ambitions), I'm going suggest that they go on an Ex-Lax diet*.

*Caveats:

1. I'm not a medical professional, and can't prescribe anything.

2. They're so full of it, that I'm not sure it would help them anyway.